New Year, New Projects!

Happy New Year!

I hope all have seen in this New Year in style?

Despite the chore of cleaning up from the season’s festivities, putting away all the Christmas decorations and trying to slot back into shift work, I’ve managed to get quite a bit done this week!

My spray painting experience is limited to say the least, but this black and red fade with the gold leaves is beginning to take shape. Like a skilled artist, I have managed to continuously cock it up, had to sand it back and repaint. But hey… it’s a learning curve!

On to my first project of 2015. A pair of bellows made from mahogany.

This is a personal piece, so the letters stand for my fiancée’s and my name, either side of a heart. I cut the heart using a v shaped router bit, then took random passes to create the texture. I finished off with a mirrored acanthus leaf design.
A lot of sanding has been done since this photo and I still have some work to do to fit the leather and pipe. Once that is all done there will be a build video and an in depth ‘how to’ here on the website.

I have done some extensive testing on an ancient technique, in line with a project I will probably bring out in spring. So far the results are mixed, so I’m not sure if I want to give too much away, as if the testing proves ineffective, I will have to scrap the whole idea anyway. But keep on the lookout for updates as it could prove to be a fun avenue for future projects!

In final news, collaboration on the new guitar build is underway. Here is the first draft of our current guitar concept with pictures of the prep work.

The circular patterning will be carved into the top of the guitar and the overall shape will be tweaked. Once complete the bridge will be converted from a Floyd rose to a fixed bridge, the top painted and the sides stained to show the grain. This is the first of 3 currently planned guitars. The second will be another convert of an Ibanez, and the third will be a full build from scratch. So, there will more than likely be a separate page pop up for this side project. Keep your eyes peeled!

CutMarks